Lit wrote:During yesterday's Republican debate help in South Carolina.... Moderator Timothy Mcdonald asked this question to Rick Perry:
Mcdonald: "The murder rate of women has increased 1,400 percent since the Islamist-oriented party took over," Perry said of Turkey, adding it had "threatened military force against
both Israel and Cyprus," and yet it is still a member of NATO.
Here was Rick Perry's answer (and the crowd cheered):
Perry: "Obviously, when you have a country that is being ruled by what many would perceive to be Islamic terrorists, when you start seeing that type of activity against their own citizens, then yes, not only is it time for us to have a conversation about whether or not they belong to be in NATO, but it's time for the United States, when we look at their foreign aid, to go to zero with it".
video of the above coming shortly.
Slight correction to the above. The moderator that asked the question last night about Turkey was Bret Bair....
http://content.usatoday.com/communities ... rorrists/1By David Jackson, USA TODAY
Updated 6m ago
We wonder if Turkey will be filing any protests with the State Department after presidential candidate Rick Perry labeled them a virtual terrorist state during last night's Republican debate.
Asked if Turkey belongs in NATO, Perry said: "Well, obviously when you have a country that is being ruled by, what many would perceive to be Islamic terrorists, when you start seeing that type of activity against their own citizens, then yes."
The Turkish government is run by an Islamic party, but it remains a U.S. ally.
Turkey's press has already responded to Perry -- angrily.
"The debate that the Republican candidate Rick Perry attended on American Fox TV turned into a scandal that contained very ugly statements about Turkey," reported TRT state television.
Mustafa Akyol, a columnist with the English-language Hurriyet Daily news, tweeted: "Rick Perry: what an idiot."
Perry also used the Turkey question to again argue that the U.S. should "zero out" foreign aid, and make other countries prove why they deserve American aid.
Here's the full exchange on Turkey between Perry and Fox news moderator Bret Bair:
BAIR: Governor Perry, since the Islamist-oriented party took over in Turkey, the murder rate of women has increased 1,400 percent there. Press freedom has declined to the level of Russia. The prime minister of Turkey has embraced Hamas and Turkey has threatened military force against both Israel and Cypress. Given Turkey's turn, do you believe Turkey still belongs in NATO?
PERRY: Well, obviously when you have a country that is being ruled by, what many would perceive to be Islamic terrorists, when you start seeing that type of activity against their own citizens, then yes. Not only is it time for us to have a conversation about whether or not they belong to be in NATO, but it's time for the United States, when we look at their foreign aid, to go to zero with it.
And you go to zero with foreign aid for all of those countries. And it doesn't make any difference who they are. You go to zero with that foreign aid and then you have the conversation about, do they have America's best interest in mind? And when you have countries like Turkey that are moving far away from the country that I lived in back in the 1970's as a pilot in the United States Air Force that was our ally, that worked with us, but today we don't see that. Our -- our -- our president, has a foreign policy that makes our allies very nervous and emboldens our enemies. And we have to have a president of the United States that clearly sends the message, whether it's to Israel, our friend and there should be no space between the United States and Israel, period.
PERRY: And we need to send a powerful message to countries like Iran, and Syria and Turkey that the United States is serious and that we're going to have to be dealt with.
